INTRACAVITY FREQUENCY-DOUBLING OF A CW HIGH-POWER TEM00 ND-YLF LASER

We have developed a continuous-wave, lamp-pumped, intracavity frequenc y-doubled laser that provides as much as 13.5 W of power in the green, linearly polarized TEM00 output, and very low misalignment sensitivit y. These results have been obtained with a ND:YLF rod of large cross s ection, a lithium triborate frequency-doubling crystal, and a novel re sonator design. We demonstrate that the problem of power fluctuations and chaos in this class of lasers (the green problem) can effectively be overcome and that fluctuations of less than +/- 1% on a millisecond time scale can be obtained.